1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to drawers with removable front panels and, more particularly to a file drawer having a removable outer drawer head which is releasably retained and removably secured to a drawer body without the need for hardware and additional parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drawers with removable drawer fronts or panels are widely known in the art. However, these drawer fronts are secured to the drawer bodies by screws, latches, clips, or some other type of locking mechanism requiring a multiplicity of parts or hardware that must be separately manufactured and then assembled. These parts may also become unattached and misplaced and in general their construction and adjustment can become expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,080 issued Feb. 20, 1990 to Berger entitled "Adjustable Drawer-Front Mount Assembly" is illustrative of a screw-mounted drawer front. U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,402 issued Jan. 20, 1976 to Peterson entitled "Drawer With Removable Front Panel" is illustrative of a latch member mounting means for attaching a drawer front to a drawer body. U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,553 issued Aug. 14, 1973 to Bildahl et al. entitled "Drawer With Snap-On Front Panel" utilizes clips to secure the drawer front to the drawer body. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,447 issued Nov. 24, 1970 to Himeireich entitled "Drawer Construction" discloses locking members which are used to secure the drawer front to the drawer body.
In most conventional drawers, in the event that a drawer front becomes damaged, the whole drawer must usually be discarded or at the very least a new drawer front must be installed. This installation must usually be performed in the factory which may require days or weeks before a drawer front can be replaced.
Consequently, there exists a need to be able to easily replace a damaged or obsolescent drawer front on location without having to discard the entire drawer, without having to send the drawer to the factory in order to have a new drawer front installed and without having to deal with additional parts and hardware.